In a cabinet reshuffle Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has been stripped of his additional post as Minister of State for Drinking Water and Sanitation [1]. His successor is Bharatsin Madhavsinh Solanki, a former railway minister and a Member of Parliament representing Gujarat’s Anand district.

News agency PTI reported that sources in Ramesh’s office were disappointed that their Minister was being replaced [2].

The Minister has been passionate about sanitation-related issues which he brought it in the limelight, they said, adding that Ramesh also managed to get additional funds to carry out the projects.

Ramesh was given the additional charge of the Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry in July 2011 after it was refused by Gurudas Kamat. The Mumbai Congress leader allegedly did want to take up such a low-profile portfolio.

The flamboyant Ramesh often sought the limelight to highlight his aim to rid India of open defecation. In May 2012 he appointed the popular Bollywood actress Vidya Balan as sanitation brand ambassador [3]. In September 2012, Balan joined Ramesh to launch the Nirmal Bharat Yatra sanitation campaign, which is travelling to 5 states between 2 October and 19 November 2012 [4].

Bharatsin Madhavsinh Solanki

It is unclear why Ramesh was stripped of his post, but the political controversy sparked by his recent remark that “the country needs more toilets than temples” may have played a role [5].

Bharatsin Solanki has not yet showed signs of becoming a “sanitation crusader” but he did promise to continue “the good work” of his predecessor Jairam Ramesh [2,6].

Very upset with the fear of discontinuation of the thrust laid by the Hon’ble Minister, Jairam Ramesh on the Sanitation Sector.
Hope, new Minister will also keep the importance of the Sanitation Sector prioritised at his agenda.
Thanks.
Nripendra Kumar Sarma

Dear Yanti, I have just moved your post about your paper ("Towards sustained sanitation services: a review of existing frameworks and an alternative framework combining ecological and sanitation life stage approaches.") into this thread as it fits better here. (if anyone wants to see the link just scrol up to her post on 13 Oct). As it's not a […]

Dear Sanjay, I can't really picture how you would set this directory up and who could add to it? It reminds me a little bit of two existing pages on Wikipedia which might inspire you: - Water pollution in India: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_pollution_in_India - Indian states and union territories ranked by prevalence of open defecation en.wikipedia.org/w […]

You are so right about pointing out the earth-shattering news, Arno! Let's all forget about quoting that 2.4 billion figure for people without access to improved sanitation (from the MDG era). I think the new figure to keep "pushing" into people's attention is 4.5 billion people without access to safely managed sanitation. I am doing my b […]

Welcome to Aquaya as a new SuSanA partner! I first came across Aquaya via a project they had funded by the Gates Foundation which I had added to the SuSanA project database for them: It was called "Cash on delivery for water quality testing", see here: www.susana.org/en/knowledge-hub/projects/database/details/150 It ended in 2015 - do you have any […]